Ericsson to cut up to 4,000 jobs in Sweden: report

STOCKHOLM - Telecoms equipment maker Ericsson has notified Sweden’s government that it would announce on Tuesday the cutting of 3,000 to 4,000 jobs, Swedish public television SVT reported on Monday.

Ericsson announced in April that it would target structural changes by expanding an existing nine billion kronor (936-million-euro; $1 billion) global cost and efficiency programme to bolster efficiency and growth.

"The government has been informed of Ericsson’s plans which consist of putting in place its largest cost-saving plan in its recent history," reported SVT, citing a source close to the matter.

"A fifth of its workers must leave the group" in Sweden, it added.

The company has around 116,000 employees worldwide, including 15,000 in Sweden.

In September Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported Ericsson planned to end manufacturing in Sweden with the loss of around 3,000 jobs.

The newspaper report came after Ericsson fired chief executive Hans Vestberg in July after seven years in the post.

Under his guidance, the company struggled to fend off competition from rivals Nokia, Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent, and to gain ground in saturated and competitive markets such as Europe and North America. AFP